Ep 33 Alchemy (part 2)

Explicit content warning

05/19/21 • 76 min

Part two of our coverage of Alchemy, the blurry line between magic and science. In this Episode, RJ discusses notable alchemists and their scientific achievements. Zosimos of Panopolis, Mary the Hewbrew, Ge Hong in ancient China, Jabir the Alchemist, Henning Brand, Paracelsus, Johan Faustus, and John Dee. Each of these alchemists contributed to scientific discovery in ways that would affect humanity forever. Inventions like Hard Liquor, Painkillers, Disinfectant, Glow in the Dark, and more were all the products of alchemy. At the end of the episode, RJ and Elle perform Molybdomancy, a type of metallurgy John Dee performed back in the 1500s. They attempt to help Christopher, a Middle School Science Teacher, decide what science unit to teach next.

Support the show

Support the show

Previous Episode

Ep 32 Alchemy (part 1)

Alchemy. The science of understanding, deconstructing and reconstructing matter. Of all the Mancy's we have covered on the show, Alchemy has had the largest impact on the progress of humanity by far. Once at the forefront of academic thought, Alchemy was both controversial and revered. In part 1, RJ discusses the principals of hermeticism and gnosticism which make up the basis for alchemical thought and philosophy. The Hermetic philosophy of "as above, so below" helped inform alchemists experiments and fueled their pursuit of divinity through the accumulation of knowledge and discovery. RJ discusses Hermes Trismegistus, Zosimos of Panopolis, and Issac Newton's pursuits in alchemy. The extra spell is about the philosopher's stone, the Alchemists holy grail said to grant eternal life and transmute lead into gold. At the end of the episode, Elle performs divination by scrying a Discovery Kids chemistry set for Jo! The chemistry set is a "build your own lava lamp" with 10 different experiments. RJ and Elle try two of them.

Support the show

Next Episode

Ep 34 Wine and Cheese Magic (part 1)

Oinomancy and Tyromancy. Divination by wine and divination by cheese. RJ and Elle discuss the history of Alcohol as a tool for magic. The consumption of Alcohol goes well into pre-history, with the earliest records existing in ancient mesopotamia. RJ Gags remembering alcohol poisoning patients he treated as an EMT. They also discuss the Maenads, ancient greek priestesses of Dionysus who used alcohol to commune with their god. They performed several rituals at their Baccanals before the practice was outlawed by the Roman Government. In the Extra Spell, RJ discusses the history of Witches Brew and how our current image of the witch with pointy hat, cat, broomstick, and cauldron come from female brewmasters. RJ finishes his portion by touching on the history of alcoholism. Elle performs Oinomancy in the ancient greek tradition for Shanna.

Support the show

Mancy - Ep 33 Alchemy (part 2)

Transcript

This is the episode script which will be up while we are working on transcribing our episodes =)
Welcome to episode 33 of Mancy. A podcast about magic and the fucked up shit people did with it. In each set of episodes we cover a different mancy, or method of magic. I’m RJ Walker, I’m a spoken word poet and writer. With me is my co-host Elle

Elle Intro

In the last episode we had Alchemy 101, learning some basic hermeticism and gnosticism and discussed the history of the philo